Sunday, 6 September 2009

Graffiti Camo Inspiration

.Driving to a work site in a depressed area of the Granite City, I noticed a graffitied roadside telephone exchange box. The box itself was 'battleship grey' and had been given wavy camouflage lines of red-brown and black. It stood out for complimenting it's granite and brick surroundings, and looked cool.

I'd been looking for a slightly 'different' camo scheme for my KhurasanCorporate Marines, so kept the image in my mind. Once home that evening I used Paint.Net, not trying to win any art prizes here, to painlessly try out the grey/red-brown/black camo look on Jon's Corporate Marines without even having to lift a brush - wait for undercoat to dry, you know.....

Even as I went along the line of figures in the photo, I thought yeah, that's not too shabby at all. All well and good, but how does it look in 15mm? My favourite graphic utility for photograph and digital images is IRFANVIEW. Free and completely painless to use for 99% of your everyday digital photography tasks.

I opened up the photo above in IRFANVIEW, held a Corporate Marine miniature to the screen and reduced the size of the photo until the two matched.

Click on the picture to get an idea of the difference.

I use this technique with camo schemes all the time, whether graphic swatches or photos of actual uniforms and soldiers all the time. It gives you an idea of what is likely to work and what will be simply too fussy when it comes to reproducing your chosen camo scheme in 15mm.

Once again, It doesn't replace trying things out on a 'test' mini, but it does help you decide on the colours and best approach before you apply the brush.

Subsequently, the Corporate Marines have slipped into my painting schedule unannounced and are now sitting undercoated Adeptus Battlegrey on my desk. I'll keep you updated on progress in the coming week.